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Using Ecosystem Services Framework to Inform Land-Management

Abstract:The Natural Capital Project (NatCap) is a leading organization in the field of ecosystem services framework use in land management and decision-making. Ecosystem services, or the benefits society gains from nature, is a unifying paradigm that allows ecologists, economists and stakeholders to assess the impacts and trade-offs of policies, development plans, climate change etc. In this talk, I will give an overview of the NatCap approach, explain problems for operationalizing the concept of Ecosystem Services, and present several studies we did in Columbia, Sumatra and West Coast Vancouver Inland. Finally, I will describe an ongoing project with the US Army, demonstrating the utility of the Ecosystem Services approach to managing active military training lands.